Profile

1)LIFE 4 Oak Forests

The biodiversity of oak forests is declining due to intensive human use. With the nature conservation interventions of the LIFE 4 Oak Forests project, our goal is to reverse this process. The project aims to promote the regeneration of the forests and to restore the diversity of forest structure, native tree species composition and microhabitats. As a result, the protected forest mammals, birds, insects, plants and fungi will be preserved, and their populations will increase. The project is co-financed by the European Union’s LIFE program.

2) Investigation of forest-dwelling lichen communities

We investigate the lichen communities of Natura2000 oak forests and the main effecting environmental variables shaping these communities. We are working on a taxonomical revision of Hungarian lichen species with morphological and chemical methods, with particular attention to the genus Cladonia.

3) Ecophysiological study of terricolous lichen communities

We are working on revealing the effect of microclimate and seasonality on the photosynthetic activity of lichens and the production of secondary lichen metabolites. Investigation of different acclimation strategies of certain species living in temperate semiarid sandy grasslands is also in our focus.